Burundi's journalists and lawyers face intense harassment

It's possible that no journalist in the
world has received more court summonses in recent weeks than Editor Bob
Rugurika of Burundi's Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), a station founded by
CPJ award-winner Alexis Sinduhije.

On Tuesday, for the fifth time since July 18, Rugurika was interrogated by a magistrate in the capital, Bujumbura, about programs aired by his station, according to news reports and CPJ research. The magistrate allegedly asked Rugurika to "correct" a broadcast that pointed out that a 1996 U.N. report had implicated an official involved in the setting up of Burundi's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in a massacre, RPA Editor-in-Chief Eric Manirakiza told CPJ.

Also at the same courthouse on Tuesday was Patrick Mitabaro, news
editor of Radio Isanganiro, a leading private broadcaster. Mitabaro was responding to
his second interrogation in a week for airing an interview in which Burundi Bar
Association President Isidore Rufyikiri criticized magistrates for allegedly
cowing to political influence from the government. Rufyikiri was jailed for a week because of the comments.

François Nyamoya, who has defended RPA
for years, has remained in prison since he was summoned for interrogation on July 29 by Magistrate
Adolphe Manirakiza. He was summarily incarcerated on charges of tampering with
a witness during a murder trial that took place more than seven years ago.

In a statement that quotes CPJ issued by
Human Rights Watch today, HRW declared that the charges
against Nyamoya are not only "based on a new penal code, which was not in
effect at the time of the alleged offense," but are voided by a three-year statute of
limitations for misdemeanors.

"Both the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which
Burundi is party, strictly prohibit the retroactive application of criminal
offenses and penalties," the organization said. CPJ believes Nyamoya's arrest
is part of an effort by authorities to frustrate the station's legal defense.

Mohamed Keita is advocacy coordinator for CPJ's Africa Program. Keita has written about independent journalism and development in sub-Saharan Africa for publications including The New York Times and Africa Review, and has appeared on NPR, the BBC, Al-Jazeera, and Radio France Internationale. Keita has also given presentations on press freedom at the World Bank, U.S. State Department, and universities. Follow him on Twitter: @africamedia_CPJ.

Comments

We Burundians have to learn to tolerate views even though we may not necessarily agree with them. Arresting people just because we do not agree with what they have said or written is medieval just to say the least. How are we going to build a multi-ethnic nation ( we are only three ethnic tribes) if we are still living in the middle ages?

We also have to accept those who are different from us. A Tutsi must accept to recognise the right of the Hutus and the Batwa to exist. We have to accept to cohabit together. Hutu wielding pangas will never win an olympic medal just because they have broken the Guiness record as to how many Tutsis that have been slaughtered using such elementary weapon. Nor will the Hutus be able to finish off the Tutsis just because they are a small minority. History teach us a lesson that no matter how many pogroms that have been committed against the Jews, including Hitler's holocaust, the Jews are still thriving all over the world.

Tutsis, like the Jews, are very resilient people. They will endure all sort of harassment. We adapt to all types of environment we find ourselves in. My advice to my brothers Hutus is to leave us alone, let us live together in peace and harmony.